Kong: Skull Island (2017) - Written Review
Shortly after the end of the Vietnam war, secret government organisation Monarch has been investigating the mysterious Skull Island - a land lost in the mists of time. In an effort to beat the Russians to uncovering its secrets, the US Government funds an expedition to investigate the island, with a military escort led by Colonel Packard, tracker James Conrad and anti-war photographer Mason Weaver. When they arrive on the island, however, they find themselves facing monsters around every corner, and the King himself is not pleased to see them...
Let's get this out of the way first: the characters in 'Kong: Skull Island' are a bit weak. Any real character moments fall flat, no matter how great the cast are and how much the screenplay is trying. The emotion just isn't there, and the characters all feel quite cliched. However, unlike say 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' from last year, this works within the film. The cast is huge, and no one really takes center-stage as such. They're all trying to get off the island, and that drives the plot of the film. If anything, the real characters come from John C Reilly's crashed WWII pilot and Kong himself - who is given a lonely God interpretation in this version. The real focus of the film is on the adventure and the monsters, and given that's why you'd want to see a King Kong film in the first place, I can't fault the film too much for that. It's narrative is also very simple, develops very well and ensures that you understand throughout that this is a monster movie - and the human characters might not make it out alive.
But the monsters are an absolute treat. It's difficult to discuss some of them without spoiling the film, and while there aren't any T-Rex's for Kong to fight, there's plenty of horrible creatures to scare the living daylights out of you. While some of the CGI doesn't always work quite as well as it could, and there is some rather poor green-screen in the brief moments it's clearly used, Vogt-Roberts made the right move in shooting the film on location and in sets as opposed to using an over-abundance of CGI to create the mysterious Skull Island. The film looks beautiful, with some wonderful orange, green and blue vistas used. It's a colourful film, and again looks so much nicer than Warner Bros other big interconnected universe. Vogt-Roberts directs the film with clear style and flare, and the action beats are constantly well-shot and choreographed. I really cannot fault the film for its spectacle, even if the CGI isn't always perfect. They've really tried with Kong himself, but I get the impression we'll need to wait a little while yet to get a completely perfect Kong. I think it's probably the eyes on this new one - he doesn't really look like he's looking at anything. But, I'm being picky. The technology is almost there, and kudos to the CGI team for giving it a great go, but it's not quite 100%.
Henry Jackman's score is very much in his own style, although he creates some wonderful eerie sounds to match particular characters in the film - particularly Packard's motif. And as for the cast, well, they're fantastic, even if some have little to do. There's plenty of famous faces in the film, and while that might distract some, the characters feel like they've been worked around the actors, making it work surprisingly well. I mean, just look at this cast list: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Toby Kebbell, Shea Whigham, Corey Hawkins, Jing Tian and John C Reilly - it's a fantastic cast.
Overall, 'Kong: Skull Island' is exactly what it should be: a big, loud, colourful monster movie with spectacular action and visuals, and an occasionally nuanced script (there's some wonderful dialogue exchanges in the film). It might not be anything complex, or even particularly new, but in terms of big monster movies, it works brilliantly. 8/10
(It's way better than 'Godzilla').
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